Haggling

1. Haggling, or bargaining, is like learning a language. At first you are slow and you make mistakes. After some practice, you get better and it starts to feel more natural. Before long you know what you’re doing without thinking about it.

2. You usually bargain for household and kitchen equipment, like plates and pots; handicrafts like jewelry and leather goods; house rental; taxi fares on long runs. Anything you buy from a street-seller, domestic help and services, such as the maid, or plumber.

3. You don’t usually bargain for cigarettes and alcohol; meals and drink in restaurants; bus fares; medical goods, price-controlled food such as flour, butter, sugar, oil, tea, and milk; goods with the prices marked.

4. Before you begin, make sure you know what something is worth; ask a friend for help. When you begin, don’t show too much enthusiasm. Appear to lose interest. Say you saw the same item for less in another store, or say you don’t have enough money. Then you can flatter the seller and his goods. You can make an offer and pull out your money, as if the seller has accepted it. If he doesn’t put your money away! But above all, don’t back out when the seller agrees to your price.

5. When the haggling is over, you probably got a bargain if you feel exhausted and relieved. If you think it was very easy, and the shopkeeper is smiling, you probably paid too much.

Work in pairs and answer these questions.

1. In which countries is it usual to haggle?

2. Do you bargain for things in your country?

3. If not, have you ever haggled for anything?

4. Do\did you find it easy?

5. Would you like to haggle for everything, for some items, or for none at all?

Read these statements and check the ones which are true for your country.

1. People usually don’t carry much cash.

2. They don’t use credit cards.

3. They don’t use checks.

4. They usually pay for everything with cash.

5. They buy everything from one kind of store.

6. Prices are usually marked on the goods.

7. It’s usual to haggle.

8. There are usually sales several times a year, when things are cheaper

Coining a phrase (idioms with the word “coin”)

There are a lot of expressions in English which use the names of British coins. Since decimalization in 1971, some of the coins no longer exist, but the expressions are still alive!

If you take care of the pennies, the pounds will take care of themselves, because if you take care of the small things, the large things will be all right; however, if you are penny wise, pound foolish, you are careful in small matters but wasteful in large ones. When you are in for a penny, you are in for a pound, because once you have started something you should see it through. If somebody doesn’t care twopence, they don’t care at all. If you ride a penny-farthing, you are rather old-fashioned, because it is a very old bicycle with an enormous front wheel and a very small back wheel. Finally, if you say that something cost a pretty penny, you mean it cost a lot of money.

Read the text carefully. If a line is correct, put a tic ( ^ ) in the space provided. If a line has a word which should be not there, write it in the space provided.